Lakefront case battled before Supreme Court

COLUMBUS -- The legal battle for Ohio's shoreline landed yesterday before the justices of the Ohio Supreme Court.

Attorneys for Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine and for the Ohio Lakefront Group, which is an association of coastal property owners, pleaded their cases with oral arguments yesterday.

The Ohio and shoreline property owners each claim ownership of land between Lake Erie's ordinary high and low watermarks -- essentially Ohio's beaches. The court case is a class action lawsuit involving thousands of shoreline property owners, including residents of Lorain and Erie counties.

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The Ohio Lakefront Group, made up of private property owners along the shore, argue it is privately owned property from the water's edge or wherever deeds define the property line. The group slammed DeWine for following the path started by previous attorney generals Marc Dann and Richard Cordray.

"It is disappointing that Attorney General Mike DeWine has chosen to follow the lead of disgraced Attorney General Marc Dann and defeated Attorney General Richard Cordray and defend state efforts to take citizens' private property," said Tony Yankel, OLG president.

"During the campaign, Mr. DeWine told journalists that he disagreed with Mr. Cordray's decision to continue to pursue the case. By deciding to go forward with the appeal, Mr. DeWine is flip-flopping and undermining our fundamental private property rights guaranteed by the United States as well as the Ohio Constitution."

The attorney general, wildlife and nature groups cite state law confirming state ownership to a line, known as the ordinary high watermark, along the shore, according to the Ohio Environmental Council. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources identified the ordinary high watermark as 573.4 feet above sea level based on a 1985 survey by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

"The court has a choice to make," said Trent Dougherty, director of legal affairs for the OEC, which is an intervening defendant in the case.

"It can protect 200 years of Ohio's public trust doctrine and follow a century's worth of Ohio Supreme Court case law," Dougherty said. "Or it can hand a free ticket for unfettered development to the wealthiest of landowners -- a pass to wreak havoc on our north coast and jeopardize Ohio's greatest natural resource."